PlayStation 4 Pro And PS4 Slim Announced: Price, Specs, Features

While all eyes in mobile phone reporting may have fallen on LG prior to Apple’s unveiling of the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus, those in the gaming community couldn’t really be asked to watch those events as Sony was making announcements of its own today with the unveiling of the two newest Playstations at an event held at the Playstation Theater in New York City. The unveiling of the Playstation 4 Pro and the Playstation 4 Slim are now official and were made to a packed house earlier on Wednesday.

PHOTO: SONY

The Playstation Neo or Playstation 4.5 is now the Playstation 4 Pro

While many of us had been calling the new gaming console Project Neo for a time, that is now the PlayStation 4 Pro will launch on November 10, at a cost of just $399. Ok, $399 is certainly not peanuts by any means but many following these developments were calling for a bigger price tag on the device that was first mentioned by Sony ahead of the E3 in June. The console bears some resemblance to a ridiculously fast PC with an upgrade to the PS4 hardware that is now three years old.

In order to now support 4K resolution, Sony has included a hard drive of 1TB, along with a considerably faster processor that allows for considerably better graphics. If you though you might be getting off cheap, do understand that the PlayStation 4 Pro is not a replacement to the Playstation 4 but rather it compliments the older hardware.

In addition to 4K video the Playstation 4 Pro will also play HDR video thanks to the upgraded GPU.

“PS4 Pro is not intended to blur the line between console generations,” Mark Cerny, the man behind the PS4, said during his presentation on Wednesday. “Instead, the vision is to take the PS4 experience to extraordinary new levels.”

Cerny happily pointed out that both YouTube and Netflix were developing new applications specifically for use with the Playstation 4 Pro while pointing out that the PlayStation VR experience would be ramped up with the PS4 Pro allowing for more detail, higher frame rate and other improvements.

While 4K displays are becoming the norm not everyone has made the leap and until you do there is absolutely zero reason to yet get excited about the Playstation 4 Pro but when you do make the jump to 4K make sure you have an additional $399 in hand to purchase your new TV and the PS4 Pro at the same time. Trust me, if you weren’t at the event today the gaming and resolution is stunning and you’ll hate that you don’t have the PlayStation 4 Pro when you purchase your new TV.

Again, and unlike the Xbox One S which Microsoft is hoping will compete with the Playstation 4 Pro, you’ll have access to numerous titles when it goes on sale in November. Sony has also made it clear to developers that it only takes a minor tweak to make existing games compatible for the Playstation 4 Pro meaning you should see a deluge of games ahead of the holiday season.

The less exciting announcement came with the slimmer Playstation 4

For those still playing on a Playstation 3 and are limited to televisions with 1080p and lower resolutions, you weren’t completely left out today at the Playstation Theater in New York City. Sony announced a thinner version of the Playstation 4 which is essentially the same machine only on a diet. The space-saving Slim has thew same ports, capabilities, and 500GB hard drive as the original Playstation 4 but without the boxy mess that presently stands out in tens of millions of gaming dens around the world.

Image source: Justine Ezarik – Twitter

For many the slimming of the console will be welcome but it’s only .5 inches more narrow, .75 inches shorter and a bit taller. What Sony has, however, done is get rid of those damned power and eject invisible touch zones that have angered many for years and replaced them with actual, real buttons for the pushing rather than the accidental power downs of the past.

The new “on a diet” unit will be released eight days from its unveiling (September 15) at a retail price of $299 for those that don’t already own a Playstation 4.

So, Sony now has a product release in each of the next three months beginning with the Slim. October will see Sony attempt to take on HTC and Oculus with PS VR in October and many reviewers already believe that Sony will enjoy a good deal of success with that offering. It has a fantastic number of games being offered the moment it hits the shelves for those looking to take their gaming to another level with an immersive adventure in digital playland.

All in all, Sony impressed today and should be looking at a big Christmas season for the seasoned gamer or one that just wants to beef up their system while keeping it slim.